Last year we introduced you to the Post Wildfire OHV Recovery Alliance (PWORA), formed to orchestrate and organize volunteers to bring back OHV, 4×4, dirt bike, and all recreational access trails after terrible fire seasons. We ran a story when PWORA held its first ever work weekend recovering infrastructure on the Chappie-Shasta OHV Area on BLM managed lands in Northern California. Read the story here.
We also invited NOHVCC California State Partner and PWORA President/CEO, Don Amador to host a webinar titled Post Wildfire OHV Alliance – Building Capacity to Mitigate Post-Disaster Impacts to Recreation Facilities Through Volunteer and Professional Services. You can watch a video version of the webinar here (login required).
Don was nice enough to share a quick note and a few pics from PWORA’s most recent volunteer effort last week on the Mendocino National Forest at the Stonyford OHV Area. Don said, “We had two dirt-bike mounted trail strike teams with support from a ROV carrying larger saws, tools, etc., which we used to clear downed trees from some of the higher elevation trails. We are running into more larger diameter trees that were killed by the 2012 Mill Fire and were reburned in the 2018 Ranch Fire. Most of the small diameter trees have fallen or were burned up. Now we are seeing the larger trees starting to fall.”
Its good to see Don and team back in the woods and affecting positive change. While there are many serious issues to address after catastrophic wildfires, PWORA is proving through organization and volunteer effort it is possible to not only reopen OHV access, but also to protect recovering resources.
We encourage you to follow PWORA’s lead and act proactively to protect riding opportunities and our natural resources. If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about PWORA, please contact us at trailhead@nohvcc.org.
